Chinese Spy Invades the Midwest, Texas Sues 4 States, Apple's $549 Headphones Worth It? Could the COVID Vaccine Literally Kill Me? (The Five for 12/09/20)

Hey,

Welcome to The Five.

Before we begin.

HEY READ THIS TRUE STORY ABOUT THE MAFIA SHOWING UP IN MY RURAL COUNTY IN IL JUST BEFORE WWII AFTER EXECUTING A NAZI SPY.

I started a new series on Medium called The Folks of Forgottonia, detailing local lore and the untold true stories growingup in a 14 county region of western Illinois first nicknamed “Forgottonia” when both Chicago and Washington D.C. turned their collective backs on economic development in the area.

The first entry involves a Jewish refugee who lived through Auschwitz, the Chicago mafia and a dead Nazi infiltrator.

I got some feedback that not everybody noticed that one in the last newsletter, so there you go. I plan to keep rolling out a story a week in this series over at Medium.

[one]

A Chinese spy infiltrated California politics, with strong ties to Congressman Eric Swallwell as well as the mayors of San Jose and Cupertino, CA.

You need to read the whole thing to understand this complex situation, but here’s a good summary from the Axios report.

U.S. intelligence officials believe China's spy services have become more aggressive and emboldened, including in their U.S.-focused influence and political intelligence-gathering operations. Fang's case shows how a single determined individual, allegedly working for Beijing, can gain access to sensitive U.S. political circles.

The article also contain a paragraph about how the Chinese got a spy on Nancy Pelosi’s staff in the mid-2000’s, which was quickly uncovered by the FBI.

The spy, Fang Fang, fled the U.S. before he was aprehended. But considering that China will go all the way down to the mayoral level to get U.S. info and are building the world’s largest Navy by 2049, it’s starting to look a lot like…the 1980’s cult classic action movie Red Dawn.

(You thought I was going to say Christmas, didn’t you).

Also, if you’re a really fat white mayor, age 50+, an a 22 year old attractive girl shows romantic interest in you…she’s a spy bro.

[two]

Texas is essentially taking a lawsuit to the Supreme Court (no word on whether or not the court will hear it) over election security. The Texas Tribune reports:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing four battleground states — Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — whose election results handed the White House to President-elect Joe Biden.

In the suit, he claims that pandemic-era changes to election procedures in those states violated federal law and asks the U.S. Supreme Court to block the states from voting in the Electoral College.

Missouri, Louisiana and Arkansas (at the time of this writing, early in the morning on 12/9) have backed the lawsuit.

I’m not sure that I see much changing the projected election results (and they are projected until states certify their elections, by definition). It’s not impossible, but this is a Hail Mary pass that needs to sail 80 yards and be caught in the end zone.

That being said, whatever you think of the election results, I believe it’s a good idea to check all angles of election security. If the general public no longer believes in the election process, we’re dangling too close to disaster for my comfort.

The Russian collusion investigation went on for the first three years of the Trump administration. It produced nothing, but I’m glad to live in a country where possible corruption is thouroughly investigated.

If you want the average Joe and Jane to trust elections, we may need the same thing here.

[three]

Apple announced the Airpods Max yesterday, a set of $549 over-the-ear “big can” headphones that carries the name of their popular in-ear buds.

Wired points out that these are $100-150 more than the premium Sony and Bose offerings…and it will be tough to beat those two established players on audio fidelity.

This is what the internet refers to as the “Apple Tax,” overpaying for a product just for the status of that famous mac logo being associated with it. In all likelyhood, Sony, Bose or even Apple’s own Beats brand are as good, or better, than Airpods Max at a fraction of the price.

Oh, and the Airpods Max don’t have an audio cable jack. If you want to plug them into a laptop, you have to use an iPhone charging cable. This is incredibly stupid.

I have a Macbook laptop for work, and absolutely love it. Amanda has an iPad pro for art, but other than that, we lean Android/PC.

My Samsung phone takes an external memory card, which means I have 600GB of storage. Earlier this year, I backed up my entire Macbook laptop…to my phone.

The Ticwatch Pro 4G is a favorite among soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, because it’s so scratch resistant. I picked it up on sale for less than $200, and it offers the same core functionality as the Apple Watch Series 6 (phone calls without a phone attached, notifications and workout and health tracking), which runs $500-700+.

I wore the Ticwatch while running a chainsaw for a couple of weekends this summer, and even under those conditions, there’s only a pin-prick sized scratch on one part of the watch.

After owning a pair of Airpods (eventually they died from excessive use), Samsung Galaxy Buds (OK) Samsung Galaxy Buds+ after the dog ate the originals (better), I love the audio quality most on the Ticpods I got for Amanda, which are cheaper than all the above. (But they’re pink, so there’s a 0% chance I’m going to steal them).

The moral of the story is to research and choose the best products for your life. If that’s a pair of Airpods Max because you love the feeling of buying Apple, great. But for the rest of us…there are better, cheaper alternatives.

[four]

As a follow up to the story that Warner Brothers will release all their feature films to HBO Max for streaming the day of release (at no additional charge), director James Gunn is reportedly furious that his upcoming movie The Suicide Squad will be on the streaming service day one.

For better or worse, the old system of releasing movies only to theaters first is likely yet another COVID casualty. I love the movie theater experience and I can understand how creators want their work seen on a giant, immersive screen…but I just don’t see the genie going back in the bottle on this one.

[five]

This is very breaking news, so take it with a grain of salt. Two UK patients have already experienced allergic reactions to the COVID vaccine, according to USA Today:

People with a “significant history” of allergic reactions shouldn’t receive the new Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine pending an investigation of two adverse reactions reported on the first day of the U.K.'s mass vaccination program, British health officials said Wednesday.

That could cause a dilemma in the U.S., where Pfizer's vaccine candidate could win emergency use approval from the FDA within days. Stephen Powis, national medical director for the National Health Service in England, said both affected patients were "recovering well" and that the directive came "on a precautionary basis." 

Since I have no comorbidities and am fairly young and healthy…this could mean the vaccine could more life threatening to me than COVID. I’ve been 1-2 hours from death before due to severe food allergies.

Until the next one,

-sth